The Maldives champions Maziya Sports and Recreation Club arrived in Dhaka on Friday to play Bangladesh champions Bashundhara Kings in their Group D away match of the AFC Cup Football.

The vital match between Bangladesh and the Maldives giants will kick off at 6:00 pm Bangladesh time on Monday at the floodlight Bashundhara Kings Arena in the capital, reports UNB.

Ahead of Monday's key match, Maziya SRC and Bashundhara Kings will have their final practice sessions on Sunday afternoon and evening, respectively, after addressing the official press conference in the afternoon.

Two Indian clubs—Kolkata Mohun Bagan Super Giants and Odisha FC—will also play on Monday at 8:00 pm at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.

Bashundhara Kings, which were placed in four-team Group D of the AFC Cup with Odisha FC, Mohun Bagan Club of India, and Maziya SRC of the Maldives, had already played four matches.

Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) champions Bashundhara Kings made a frustrating start in the four-team Group D of the AFC Cup after suffering a 1-3 goal defeat against the Maldives in the group opener in Male, but they bounced back in the race, beating Odisha FC by 3-2 goals in their home match in Dhaka.

The Kings played a 2-2 draw with Indian giant Mohun Bagan Club in their away match held in Odisha last month, and later they made history with their first-ever victory against Kolkata Mohun Bagan Club, beating them by 2-1 goals in the home match in Dhaka this month.

On completion of four group matches, Bashundhara Kings and Kolkata Mohun Bagan Club lead the group table jointly, securing seven points each, while Maziya SRC is at the bottom with three points from four matches.

The Kings will play their next match, an away match with Odisha FC of India, on December 11 at 8:00 pm Bangladesh time at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

Each of the four Group D teams of the AFC Cup 2023–24, a second-tier Asian Continental Club Football Competition after the AFC Champions League, is playing each other in a home-and-away round-robin format.

Later, the table-toppers will progress to the AFC Cup inter-zone play-off semi-finals.

Bangladeshi wicketkeeper-batter Mushfiqur Rahim is set to feature for Fortune Barishal in the forthcoming Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).

Mushfiqur had played for Sylhet Strikers in the last edition. His price was fixed at 80 lakhs in the players' draft according to the category. Which means he was in 'A' category.

The top category player will play along with other star players like Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudullah, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, and Khaled Ahmed in Fortune Barishal.

Neymar said he was relishing “new challenges and opportunities in new places” after he joined Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal from Paris Saint-Germain on a two-year deal Tuesday, becoming the latest big name lured to the oil-rich Gulf state.

The Brazil forward, 31, ends a six-year stay in the French capital and follows in the footsteps of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Sadio Mane in swapping Europe for the Middle East.

“I have achieved a lot in Europe and enjoyed special times, but I have always wanted to be a global player and test myself with new challenges and opportunities in new places,” Neymar said in a statement from the Saudi Pro League.

“I want to write new sporting history, and the Saudi Pro League has tremendous energy and quality players at the moment,” he added.

Neymar was “in negotiations” on Sunday to become the latest football superstar to decamp for Saudi Arabia, leaving Paris Saint-Germain just as Kylian Mbappe was brought back in from the cold by the French champions.

A source close to PSG told AFP that 31-year-old Neymar “no longer figures in the club or manager’s plans” with the Brazilian immediately linked to Al-Hilal in the Gulf kingdom.

Another source in Saudi Arabia said that “direct negotiations” between Neymar’s agents and the Public Investment Fund (PIF) were ongoing.